Let’s talk about how my run on Saturday morning was probably
the happiest I have been in a very, very long time. I’ve talked to people who
have cried happy tears during races before, and I honestly came close to having my
first run-cry, although I held it together.
I didn’t run for a week.
It was rough. After the Scotland Run last weekend, my body was muy muy
unhappy with me. “Why did you run that
fast, up and down hills?” the giant, painful knots in my calves kept asking me
with every step. No joke. My shins were
in pain while I was walking and I was having serious flashbacks to my stress
fracture, crutches, boot nightmare from earlier this year. So I (shockingly) tried listening to my body
and not pushing it. Which is something
that I’m very bad at. So for 6 days I didn’t run. I took one spin class, and did 20 minutes on
the elliptical, but that was pretty much the extent of my cardio for 6 days.
And then, Friday night was a really emotionally not fun
night.
So when I woke up Saturday morning, I wanted a good
run. But the worst thing ever is when
you want and need a good run, and you get yourself all excited for an awesome
run, and then it ends up kicking your butt and sucking.
Part of me was expecting that.
LUCKILY, I was beyond pleasantly surprised Saturday. The sun
was shining. I was wearing shorts and a tank top. There were tons of people out for the group
run. I’m starting to feel like I fit in
with this group. My legs felt like they
were rested (gee Lauren, maybe rest CAN be a good thing) as we ran the now
familiar 10-mile Randall’s Island run from the UES Jack Rabbit store. I felt like I was running so easy, yet I was
somehow leading the group the entire time? I seriously felt like I was on Cloud
9. I didn’t listen to music for a second.
And when we got back to the store, I had multiple people
come up to me as if I was some legit runner, asking me questions and
complimenting me and telling me I looked great out there today.
What?!
I honestly didn’t know what to
say. “Wow, you really run.” “You must
run a LOT.” “You must have run in high school right?” (HA, that’s a funny
joke). “Thanks for leading today” the leader said as I left…I honestly was
dumbfounded. I mean, I kept insisting to
everyone that I am NOT by ANY means an incredible runner. Today I just felt amazing, I had been off for
6 days, usually my entire body hurt…I had every comeback for the compliments
(and thank yous as well). But I’m not
going to lie, when I walked home from the store, I was kind of floating.
I still don’t think I’m an amazing runner by any means- but
I AM a runner. Running makes me happy.
Running is when I get some of my best thinking done. A good run can make or break my day. Running is like therapy for me. And now, apparently, running is something I’m
actually good at, thanks to sticking with it even through the runs that are
painful and long and slow.
And you know
what? I would take 2387492 of those not so great runs for every one that was
like todays.
Oh my god, I might cry. I need to stop.
RUN HAPPY PEOPLE.
